


Silent

by Innocentfighter



Series: Rin's Loss [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hospital, I made up the medical thing with my own knowledge so forgive me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-27 02:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1711586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innocentfighter/pseuds/Innocentfighter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of Rin's silence and collapse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silent

**Author's Note:**

> Coming back with the sequel which took me a week to complete. Yeesh. So I hope that you enjoy the conclusion! So see you at the bottom!
> 
> DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN Free!

_The blackness had a different feel to it. This time it wasn't at all comforting like it had been for the past few months, but instead it was consuming, like it was trying to take the life right out of him._

_This blackness was cold and hateful. Much like he had been when he returned from Australia and then in recent months he returned to that personality._

_That was the first time he realized that he had a "physical" body in this world. He looked down at himself, noticing that he looked like he did before the… he wasn't sure what he should call it happened._

_In a panic he began to look around for anything that could be of use to get him out of this mess. His eyes darted around wildly. He didn't want this blackness again, he'd take defeat over this any day._

_**Rin-san! Wake up** _ _!_

' _What? Who?'_ _Rin thought to himself._

_**Rin-chan, you really are strong! Please come on!** _

" _Strong? Come where? Who are you?" Rin continued to yell, the voices were loud, so they had to be close_.

_**Rin, you've got to fight, for your sake, and ours!** _

" _Who's sake? I don't even know who this is!"_   _Rin continued his voice shaky with panic._

_**Nii-san. You promised you'd always be there for me. So please just wake up.** _

' _Nii-san?' Rin asked himself. "Who…?_

_**Rin, I know you can fight this. Just remember what it felt like when you were finally free! Wake up so you can swim with us again.** _

_That voice he knew. "Haru? What's happening? Why do you sound like you're in pain? Who else is with you?"_

_Rin waited for what seemed like an eternity, which it every well could've been, there was no way to tell time._

" _Haru!" Rin cried out. He suddenly realized who would've been with Haru. "Makoto, Nagisa, Rei! Gou!"_

_There was no echo, no chance that he could've been heard. He wasn't even sure that he uttered a sound, it could've easily been swallowed by the darkness._

_Rin bowed his head, letting himself cry. "Someone, anyone. Please."_

_When he looked up again there was small pinpoint of light. He started to use whatever strength he could summon to fight this blackness and stand up. He ignored how cold the blackness suddenly got, and how much the hate burned him. He also decided that he wouldn't dwell on the fact that he was cold and getting burned at the same time._

_With each in he stood he felt himself get freer and closer to that pinpoint. But it seemed like the blackness didn't want to let him go, but using every last ounce of strength that he had he broke free and got pulled to the light._

* * *

One he emerged on the other side, he realized that he wasn't on the floor which he knew was the last place that he had been conscious. But instead of opening his eyes right away he let himself adjust to the sounds and smell of the place that he was in.

It smelled sterile, and he was sure he heard that sounded like a heart monitor. But his hearing was still fuzzy. Giving it a few minutes, he let his hearing return listening patiently for anything to give him a better idea of what had happened.

"Doctor?" The voice was soft and clearly female.

"Yes?" A voice replied it was kind, but sounded a little stern.

"What exactly is wrong with my brother?"

_Gou._ Rin's groggy mind supplied.

The man that must be a doctor replied. "We aren't entirely sure, we know how to treat him, but the effects are something that we haven't seen."

"Just tell me what's wrong! He's been unconscious, or in a coma, or whatever; for seventeen days!" Gou sounded close to crying.

Rin winced.  _Because of me. She's upset because of me._

"Our best guess, is that something traumatic caused his neurons to misfire, which caused a chemical imbalance in his brain and no one was able to detect that he was actually acting this way because it was medical. Also you mentioned he hadn't been speaking? That's because the misfire happened in the Broca's Area. A part of the brain that controls speech."

A voice spoke up. It was lacking confidence. "Would losing a swimming race cause this?"

_Haru, are you going to blame this on yourself? I might hit you if that's the case._

"It is possible." The man responded.

There was the sound of a door opening and closing. Then a silence filled the room only being broken by the sound of the heart monitor. Rin tried furiously attempting to open his eyes but no matter what he tried he couldn't get them to open.

"Shall we go Kou-chan?" Makoto asked. "We still have school in the morning, and a practice."

There was a paused. "I guess. Give me a second?"

"I'll be outside."

Rin listened as he heard footsteps and then the door opening and closing.

"Good night, nii-san. Makoto-senpai is walking me home again." Gou said quietly.

_God bless for Makoto's kindness._ Rin would've sighed if he could. He knew that Makoto didn't live anywhere near his house so the fact that he was still walking Gou home was something Rin could never repay. Especially since he knew he was the reason his sister was staying out so late.

"Haru-senpai, don't stay to late either." Gou said in a soft but strict voice.

"Good night Gou." Haru's monotonous voice replied.

Her footsteps grew softer until she reached the door. Rin stopped listening and instead focused on the sounds closer to him. He still didn't have complete feeling in his body and he really wanted to get into a more comfortable position. So he settled with trying to guess how many time the heart monitor went off during a minutes.

"So it is my fault."

Rin had forgotten that Haru was there because he was so silent. He wanted to give the other his full attention and to tell him it wasn't his fault, because obviously it wasn't just his angsty teen self getting in the way, but instead a serious illness or something.

"What I said to you, I was the last person that spoke to you, and we aren't even sure how long you were unconscious. The guy's at your school said they hadn't seen you for a week so when that kid that always hangs around you came to see what happened he found you similar to like how you are now."

_Wow, Haru you're talking a lot. I guess it makes sense, since I can't at the moment._

"It seems like I can't stop hurting you. At one point weren't we best friends?"

Rin paused to consider that question, not that he was doing anything earth shattering.  _I suppose it was a long time ago, but we were._

"So I'm going. Visiting hours are technically over now. Good night and I'm sorry."

There was a screeching sound.  _Haru must've been sitting next to me._ Rin thought idly.

Once he was sure that Haru was gone, he sighed as he tried to open his eyes several more times, and it was like he just didn't have the strength to do so. He didn't want to try and return to sleep in fear of actually returning to that void. That scared in the most. He was barely able to get out of that place the first time. He wasn't sure he could do it a second time.

So he stayed behind the darkness of his eyes lids, every now and then trying to open them but it was futile.

At some point he noticed that the sky was beginning lighten, or he thought so because his eye lids were also light.

Also throughout the day Rin heard people enter and leave. He figured that they were nurses or his doctor or something. He felt detached considering that he could only hear things and had no way of telling the passage of time.

Frustrated he tried to force his eyes open this time. He succeed. But he rapidly shut them again as light assaulted his eyes that he wasn't prepared for the sudden brightness. He cracked them open allowing them to slowly adjust. Once they were fully opened he took a look around the room noting that there was a man who looked young despite the gray starting to appear in his hair.

Rin turned to look at him, wondering who the hell he was and why he was in his hospital room.

"Ah Matsuoka-san, you're awake." The man clapped his hands.

Rin tried to say something but his throat protested, as he hadn't used it for so long. The doctor handed him water, still smiling kindly.

While the water helped, Rin still found that he was unable to talk.

The doctor seemed to pick up on this. "According to your friends you haven't spoken for a long time, your voice box is probably weak from the disuse. Nothing permanent. You should slowly regain your full ability to speak at a later point in time."

Rin didn't fail to notice the 'should', and the fact that doctor seemed like he was hiding something. He attempted to convey to the man that he wasn't convinced. The doctor completely missed the look.

Sighing the swimmer looked around the room for something that he could use to write with. He found a pad and a pin by his desk with the hospital logo on it. Rin quickly snatched it and began to write down what it was he wanted to say.

_That's not the main reason I can't is it? I've never heard of a voice box weakening._

He held the pad up in the direction of the doctor who took it and read it, his kind smile turning into a frown.

"That's true. I had hoped that I could break it to you when we had more concrete evidence, but it appears that you're rather clever."

Rin ignored the attempt to soften the blow and waited for the doctor just to tell him.

"Well it seems that your neurons in your brain misfired in the area known as the Broca's Area, a place that controls speech. We don't know to what affect it will have on you, but now that you're awake we may be able to get more concrete evidence."

Rin felt something in his stomach clench at the thought of him losing his speech, not like he was good with words anyway, but is the fact that he wouldn't be able to that bugged him.

All he could do was nod.

The doctor smiled sadly before handing the paper back to the teen. "I didn't tell anyone about it. As I felt it would be invading your privacy, and your parents never asked if anything would be affected they were just relieved that you're alive."

He paused. "Do you want me to tell them?"

Rin shook his head quickly. He would do it on his own time when he knew for sure if he was going to lose his ability to speak.

The doctor nodded. "Alright. Well your friends will be here soon so I suspect that it will get loud, so I'll get out of the way now. See you in roughly ninety minutes."

He walked away and out of the room.

Rin sighed looking around for something to alleviate his boredom, and his anxiety about seeing his friends.

He figured that he doctor meant the ones that he heard last night, Makoto, Gou, and Haru. He was most apprehensive about seeing Haru, he wasn't sure what he would write to the other teen as it was going to be awkward either way.

He focused on the window outside of his room, before he remembered that he had a TV right in front of him. He quickly turned it on to some anime about a model wanting to be a hero or something.

That show ended and another episode of the same anime appeared. He was about halfway through the episode when the door opened. He heard the voices before he saw them.

"Hey, the TV is on." The voice stating the obvious sounded suspiciously like his captain, former captain, he winced as he corrected himself.

"Maybe one of the nurses forget to turn it off?" That was Ai.

Rin sat up straighter, not sure what he was expecting from his two former teammates. Maybe a lecture, or they would be surprised because they were only planning on visiting for a little while out of respect. Rin struggled not to make a sound at the possible scenario.

"Probably, but have they ever had it on?" Seijuro replied.

The two had stopped walking apparently, to discuss the TV.

_They must have little faith that I'd wake up._ Rin tried to ignore how bitter and hurt his own thoughts sounded.

"I don't think so." Ai paused. "You don't think?"

The captain quickly cut the younger boy off. "Nitori, don't get your hopes up. You know what they say the longer that a person is in a coma the harder it is for them to wake up. He's been in one for almost three weeks, possibly four since we don't know exactly when he collapsed. The odds aren-"

"Captain! Don't say that! Rin-senpai is stronger than that. They even said that his behavior was because of a medical condition not because he lost!" Ai responded hotly.

Rin widened his eyes in surprise. He had never heard the smaller male get so… aggressive. He was surprised that Ai was actually able to cut their captain off and finish what he was saying without trailing off into an apology.

"Nitori!" The captain's voice sounded like a bark. "I don't want that either, but I'm preparing myself for that day. Because I'm partly responsible for this, I should've sense something was wrong with him, because now that I look back at it, it's almost like he wasn't aware of the world around him. He always looked zoned out."

Rin cringed. He felt bad that the captain was attempting to take the blame. He zone out for a few seconds knowing that Ai would respond with something similar.

Finally the two walked passed the curtains, and Rin held his breath as the swimmers stared at him. A stunned silence filled the room.

"Matsuoka?"

"Rin-senpai?"

Came out as harsh whispers at the same time. Their stunned expressions were matching, and Rin found it humorous as they looked to each other and back to Rin a few times before the surged forward looking pleased.

They were talking so fast that Rin couldn't catch what they were saying, then after they finished whatever it was they had said or asked they looked at Rin expectantly. Rin could only blink.

"Rin-senpai?" Ai asked after a few minutes of silence.

Rin reached for the pad and wrote down what he had wanted to say.

_You guys were talking over each other, I have no clue what you said. My voice box is damaged from disuse so I have to write what I want to say before you ask._

He tossed the pad over to his captain, who read it out loud for Ai's benefit. They both nodded at the end the quick note.

"Well, I asked how you were doing?" Seijuro cleared his throat.

Rin stuck up his thumb and gestured for his pad back, then he wrote what he wanted to say.

_I feel incredibly rested._

He tossed it back to the waiting captain, who didn't look amused by the words.

"Very funny. You had us all worried." Seijuro replied, this time he set the pad down next to Rin.

He grabbed it a jotted down something quickly. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault Rin-senpai!" Ai said with confidence. "No one was able to see this coming, it was just bad luck that it lasted as long as it did!"

Rin nodded towards the younger male. Who seemed comforted by the gesture. The three spent a little while talking about little things, laughing at the anime that was on TV, and just relaxing.

Eventually that was ended as the doctor came in.

"See ya Rin. We're heading off now." Seijuro waved as he headed out of the room; following by a bowing Ai.

The doctor waited until they were gone before he spoke. "We're going to go get a CAT scan now that you're awake, see if your lack of speech is permanent or not."

Rin nodded unable to protest, not that there was a reason. Though rolling down the hospital in a bed was a new experience, which he found amusing. What was even more interesting was the CAT scanner. He wasn't sure how to describe the feeling of laying still while the table beneath him moved, knowing the large round device he was moving through was taking pictures of his brain.

He shuddered when he was told that he could move.

His doctor walked with him while they headed up to the room. "The area that was affected is small so it may take a while for them to be completely studied. So please be patient."

Rin nodded, it wasn't like he had places to be. He was wheeled back to his surprisingly empty room. He had expected the others to show up.

"They normally don't come until after the meal time." The doctor filled in, almost as if he was sensing his question.

Rin looked to see his badge, realizing now that he had no idea what the man's name is.

_Abeno Eita, M.D_

Rin shrugged to himself. His curiosity was quelled and now he had to wait for the hammer to fall when he saw the next group of people that were willing to visit him.

He laid back on the bed watching a live game show that he didn't understand about people that were causing too much drama to be legal.

Though slowly lost focus on the screen and fell asleep, apparently he could use all of his energy up when he wasn't doing anything even though he was almost asleep for a month.

When he woke up again he felt that there were more presences in his room than when he had gone to sleep.

He cracked an eye open in curiosity and spotted a shade of red that was similar to his own hair. Looking around more, enough that it wouldn't raise suspension he also saw a familiar mess of brown hair.

_So they're here. This will be… interesting._

Inhaling mentally, Rin opened his eyes and looked around innocently. He quickly looked around to see who was in the room while there was silence.

Makoto was standing by Gou to his left, Nagisa and Rei were by the foot of his bed. Finally he glanced to his right. There next to him was Haru. Once the who was established he looked at their reactions. All of them were wearing varied expressions of shock, surprise, happiness, or relief. Makoto's eyes were as large as plates but a grin was starting to break out on his face. Gou was smiling but also looking like she was about to cry. Rei was trying to act cool by adjusting his glasses that had slid down his face in his surprise and Nagisa was grinning from ear to eat looking like he was having trouble containing himself from running up and hugging Rin. The once the swimmer got to Haru, he was amused by the shock that was etched across the usually expressionless face, but it was slowly morphing into one of pure relief.

They seemed like they were slowly getting out of their initial reactions, Haru lagging behind the others in comp rending the scene.

Suddenly Rin was assaulted from his side. Gou had launched herself at her brother and was now hugging him like her life depended on it. She was mumbling things that were incoherent but Rin could guess what she was saying.

After a rather long hug Gou finally pulled back smiling.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" She said. Rin knew that he was in for a lecture right after due to her tone.

Gou didn't disappoint. "What were you thinking? You should've told someone that something was wrong instead of treating it like it was one of your moods. We could've stopped it from getting this bad, but as usual you refused to be helped!"

Rin smiled sheepishly. Reaching for the pad that was lying next to him on the table.

_Sorry, but even I didn't know what was happening._

He handed the pad to Gou. She read it, but confusion made her brow furrow.

"Why didn't you just say that?" She asked.

Rin gestured for the pad and she handed it back.

_That's because my voice box is weak from disuse._

Rin gave it back to her quickly, she read it just as fast. "Oh. I guess that makes sense."

After Gou and Rin had there reunion everyone else started to speak. It was basically the same thing, that they were happy to see him awake, that they were worried, and that he should be more careful.

Yet Haru hadn't said a thing. Rin didn't want to focus on just one person, so he let it slide. Haru was Haru after all, he did things that Rin really didn't get.

Hours later, the guys and Gou said that they were going home. The waved farewells and headed out of the room. Rin knew that Haru was sitting next to me, so he turned his gaze onto Haru. Wondering what it was he was planning to say.

There were some minutes of silence, Rin couldn't very well break it and Haru looked like he was deep in thought. Just as Rin was going to turn away, Haru spoke.

"I was the one that found you."

Rin cocked an eyebrow.

"I couldn't leave things the way they were. I was going to try to reach you again, try something different. But when I got to your room and saw that the door was locked…" He paused gathering himself. "I walked into your room and saw you collapsed on the floor. I didn't know what to do, I just called for your captain."

Rin nodded along. He was well aware of Haru's reactions to emergencies. He could either be extremely efficient about them or have no clue.

"I couldn't think straight. All I could think of was that I was the one that made you like that." Haru sighed. "Now you're here, and I have a feeling you know more than you're letting on."

Rin shrugged rummaging around for his pad. Finally he found it.

_It's not your fault. It's whatever my brain decided to do._

Rin tossed into Haru's lap. The other swimmer looked at it surprised before he read it.

"But I could've been the one to cause it. He said a large enough shock could've caused it, you looked pretty shocked after the race." Haru protested.

Rin grabbed the pad back before writing something else.

_Or it was bad timing that this misfire or whatever happened right after the race, but you shouldn't blame yourself. I won't allow it._

This time he took the bad when Rin was finished writing.

"But-"

Rin gave him a pointed look and Haru dropped the subject. The red-haired teen reached for the pad once again. Before writing another note.

_Thank you for saving me._

Haru looked confused when he read the note. Rin chuckled breathily, as he couldn't make that much of a sound. He knew what he meant, but Haru was left in the dark.

Maybe someday Rin would tell him. Right now he was just pleased that his voice had been heard by the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> There you have it. I'm leaving the whether or not he's going to be mute forever or temporary to your imagination. Leave your thoughts below! Later! ~IF


End file.
